Where you're supposed to be
by ncis-lady
Summary: DL oneshot set after Charge of this post. Danny offers to brings Lindsay home, but what if none of them wants to be alone?


Hey,

This is my 2nd oneshot, set after "Charge of this Post". Hope you like it, and as always feel free to correct. I looked some things up in the dictionary but it's never easy when you don't get detailed information on how the word is used. Anyway, I would be glad if you gave some reviews!

Yours, Ncis-Lady

* * *

**Where you're supposed to be  
**

She was sitting next to him, staring out of the window of his car, neither of them saying a word. Houses rushed by, people strolling on the pavement, a dog crossed the street. Just another ordinary day in New York City. And yet something was terribly wrong.

For a moment Lindsay closed her eyes. Suddenly there was nothing but darkness, accompanied only by the humming sound of the motor. A melody to guide her home.

Finally Danny turned left and stopped the car in front of a little flat.

"Here we are, Montana", he said with a smile.

She hesitated.

"Danny…" Her voice sounded strange, so inlike hers, and it scared her.

And even worse, she had the indistict feeling that she was just about to cry.

"Hey." Danny's soft voice reached her ear and made her turn her head. He was looking at her with a mingled expression of tenderness and sorrow. "It's been a hard day for you."

It was a statement, it was the truth, and yet Lindsay felt cold all of a sudden. She nodded.

"Yes, indeed. Not only for me."

Gently he laid his hand onto her knee.

"He'll be okay, Lindsay. I know he will." He tried to sound confident, but his eyes belied his words. And Lindsay realized that he, too, was afraid.

So it was just about whether her fear would increase his, or equalize it.

All she could do was hope for the latter.

"Would you… like to stay here?" She choked. "I don't want to be alone tonight."

Was it an excuse? Or was it just her desperate attempt to make herself believe that all she needed was company?

"I'll stay with you if you want me to."

* * *

"Would you like something to drink?"

It was a polite question and the only way to somehow release the tension that had filled the room.

When Danny nodded, Lindsay went into the kitchen and fetched a bottle of soda, returned and took two glasses out of a vitrine. She placed all three items onto the table and sat down on her sofa next to Danny.

It hadn't been helpful. The tension was still there.

Both of them stared at the little phone lying on the table, as if they wanted to hypnotize it.

"Well, I guess it's a good sign if it doesn't ring, isn't it?", Danny murmered. "No change is better than a change for bad."

"I hope so."

Lindsay poured some water into Danny's glass.

"You're shivering", he remarked.

She looked down on her hands. Of course he was right. The shaking of her hands only showed how she was feeling inside.

"It's just… it's just…" Without being able to prevent it, she started to cry. Tears began to run down her cheeks, she wiped them away and tried not to look at Danny.

The young man came a bit closer and laid his hands onto her shoulder, stroking her gently.

"It's okay."

With a quiet sob she shook her head, and didn't even notice how Danny smiled slightly when her blond hair touched his skin.

"It's not okay."

"He's gonna be fine, Lindsay."

"And what if not?", she cried desperately. "It could've… oh God…"

Silently Danny handed her a paper tissue.

Lindsay took a deep breath.

The sad look of her dark eyes made Danny want to hug her, to hold her tight, but he wasn't sure whether this was the right thing to do. He'd been knowing her for quite a long time and still there were moments when he felt like not knowing her at all, just when he thought he'd finally seen through her shelter.

"Why wasn't I in there?", she asked with a low voice, and neither she nor he knew if she expected an answer.

"You don't have to feel guilty." Danny's words echoed in her ears, and somewhere deep inside she knew he was right, and yet…

"If I hadn't forgotten the equipment, I would have been there, too", she whispered hoarsely. "It was my place to be, just as it was Flack's and Mac's…"

"And what if you had been in there? Do you think then Don wouldn't be in this damn hospital room right now?"

"But…"

"You were exactly where you were supposed to be. You warned the people outside, you saved their lives, so don't you feel guilty!"

He had raised his voice without noticing, and he had tightened the grip on her shoulder.

She didn't seem to care.

The tears had dried on her tanned cheeks, now silvery lines would have been the only reminders of the last minutes.

Would have, if it hadn't been for her eyes that were a nuance darker than usual, and in which Danny thought he'd just drowned. He wondered whether he'd be able to swim and save her like she had done some time ago.

"You remember when you found my DNA on the cigarette?"

"How could I ever forget?", she Lindsay said, matter-of-factly and still with an undertone that made Danny feel warm all over.

"I didn't know what was going on, I knew I was innocent, but I also knew that evidence doesn't lie. What should I believe in? And then Louie was attacked and I thought my world was crashing around me."

There was silence for a moment. They could hear the ticking of the clock and through the open window the noise of children entered the room.

"You were there for me, Montana. You've always been."

Lindsay smiled at the name, making her look a little bit less sad.

" I told you I would."

Carefully Danny came nearer until he could feel her slender body at his side. When she laid her head onto his shoulder, he didn't even dare to breathe.

Suddenly he was sure that everything would turn out fine. It just had to. Because otherwise he'd probably never be with her like that again.

He stroked her tenderly, hearing her breathing in his ears and feeling her bare skin beneath his palms as he touched her forearm and finally her hand.

He sqeezed it slightly and she responded. It was only a little gesture, barely visible, but it was there.

"You're exactly where you're supposed to be, Montana…"

* * *

Danny woke up when a ray of light teased him, tickling on his nose. He raised his head and the first thing he saw was Lindsay. She was still sitting next to him, her eyes shut, breathing calmly.

He smiled down on her. He'd never imagined how good it could feel just to see her sleeping.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the phone. Lindsay woke up immediately, staring at it, fear showing in her eyes.

With shaking hands she took it up.

"Monroe."

Danny held his breath and for a moment he closed his eyes.

"Okay."

When he opened them again, he saw the young woman with her hands covering her face.

"Who… who was it?"

Slowly Lindsay uncovered her eyes. They were moistered, but the smile on her face was everything he needed to see.

"That was Mac." She looked him happily. "Don's awake. He'll be fine."

With these words she hugged Danny and held him tight as if she never wanted to lose him.

And hopefully, Danny thought, she never will.

* * *


End file.
